I enjoyed this tea, but it was a bit light for me. When I went to eat a snack with it, the tea was overpowered. This is a tea to drink alone. Alone it is a light, refreshing, drink. Somehow it comes off crisp, not exactly sure how to describe it other than that.

Preparation

This is pretty yummy. The smell of the steeped leaves reminds me more of a milk oolong. I’m also getting a pretty veggie vibe as I inhale the aroma from my cup. It tastes almost buttery if that’s even possible. It goes down very smooth too and I must say I like that. I’ll be sad when this sample is gone. Which at this rate will be in less than an hour. :)

Preparation

So I had this again tonight with one of my close friends after dinner while the men folk (her fiance and my husband) were still enjoying the wine. She loved the aroma of the tea and said it reminded her a little of the mate’s she’s purchased at Teavana, but she likes this because it’s caffeine free (no jitters).

We finished a large pot between us. This time I also noticed the coffee tones this tea leaves on the tongue. The caramel flavoring was a little more prominent in the cup too. Perfect compliment to our dinner and conversation!

Preparation

This is one of a few teas I recently ordered from Teas, Etc. I really wanted something in the house that served as a great dessert tea. In fact I’m bringing it to a friends to enjoy after dinner this evening so I thought I should try it before I brought it by. :)

The dry leaf smells of caramel and something else that I can’t put my finger on. After pouring the water over the leaves to begin the steeping process it smells like I’m in a coffee house waiting for a real deal highly caffeinated caramel macchiato. I love it! I’m also getting a lot and I do mean A LOT more caramel as the tea steeps too. The taste is mighty awesome too. A nice blend of the rooibos/honeybush and caramel. This would probably be amazing with some vanilla ice cream.

Preparation

I am absolutely crazy for Meyer Lemons. Ordinary lemons, I’m just kind of meh about (exception: freshly harvested lemons, preferably from my gramma’s backyard). But Meyer Lemons, I go crazy and buy boxes of them when they’re in season, and then I make Meyer lemon bars. So, when I see Meyer Lemon teas, I BUY! It happened when I was browsing on Stash’s website (even though they were teabags which was the only way their herbal Meyer Lemon blend was available), and now it happened when I was on the Teas Etc. website a couple of weeks ago.

This blend certainly did not disappoint. Teas Etc has managed to capture the delicious flavor of the Meyer Lemon. Sweet, lightly tart, and very yummy.

Meyer Lemons are a cross between a lemon and an orange (or maybe a tangerine). It is still “lemony” but it is sweeter and not so pucker-y tart. They are only in season a short time (like November through February or March, I think), and I usually can only find them in markets like Whole Foods… although I am sure that will change as they are becoming more and more popular.

LOVE this! This is an outstanding Earl Grey. A very nice balance between tea and bergamot. And the bergamot itself is nicely balanced too. It has a pleasing fruit/citrus-y taste and not so much of the floral, sometimes perfume-y note. It is incredibly smooth, sweet and very, VERY good.

Yummmm! I didn’t see this tea on the Teas Etc. website, I don’t know if they’re still offering it? Anyways… it is delicious. The lime flavor is well-defined, the coconut is softer but the flavor develops as I continue to sip. The overall flavor is smooth and delicious. YUMMY!

I think I’m finally getting back into my tea tasting routine. I’ve missed having a cup multiple times a day. I think I’ll be able to drink more hot tea if I have a fan blowing in my direction! This was the tea I picked for this evening. In the sip, I’m getting vegetables (almost grass), with a bit of that characteristic white tea taste. Overall, it’s quite a light cup. I must admit that I am so disappointed that my cup lacks any of the rich sweet cream or butter it claims to have. The only thing resembling butter is a bit of a salty finish to the sip. It’s smooth, simple and a bit refreshing. I just don’t understand how the description could be so very off — or maybe I did something wrong? Either way, I was a bit disappointed as I was expecting something different.

Preparation

Still going on with the warm-ups for sample week, and this poor thing is the choice for today.

Poor? Oh yes, I seem to be thoroughly mistreating it. A little more leaf than I would normally use for a pot, but not enough to split in two. Fine, a stronger cup then. Then the discovery that the saucepan didn’t hold enough water to actually fill the pot, so I’m having to boil more. I hate this way of making tea! Tomorrow the boyfriend is coming home, thankfully, and I have received word that kettle is safely in his possession and that it will fit easily in the suitcase.

In other words, cross your fingers that this doesn’t come out horribly wrong and I haven’t just wasted a sample. And not just any sample, a smoky sample! It almost doesn’t bear thinking about.

However, we are dealing with a Chinese black here, and as we know Chinese blacks will often take an awful lot of abuse before becoming completely undrinkable. Strange that, but it’s part of why I prefer Chinese. They’ll spring back from almost anything.

This one is no exception, and I can’t even taste any traces of the mistreatment it has suffered at my hands. It’s smoky and smooth with no hints of astringency or even beginning bitterness. Nothing. It’s just patiently coping with everything that has been thrown at it and is still coming out on top. The only thing that makes it any sort of rough or prickly is the smoke, and that’s supposed to be there.

There is a sort of tangy flavour to it, though, and not really the fruity sweetness that I’m used to in the regular Lapsang Souchongs. It’s like that note has been replaced by this slightly spicy and tangy note. I think I prefer the fruity sweetness.

I quite like it, although not as much as my regular LSs, but it’s a very nice tea.

I had the misfortune of going to a friends and brought some wonderful oolongs from Naivetea and my Taiwanese Gawian only to discover that they made hot water in an old oxidized pan on the stove…fortunately the tea was fantastic and could overcome the abuse and poor water….makes me appreciate my krups kettle all the more

It’s amazing sometimes what you can really get away with with minimal negative impact on the result. Kinda puts snobbery in perspective, doesn’t it?
But on the other hand I think I’ll continue being a little more snobby than that. There are limits. (And it takes twice as long to make tea without a proper kettle)

I think its less of being snobby and more about caring about what you eat and drink…loving yourself starts by treating yourself to the best of what goes into you…water quality, good tea, quality food should be the standard…strange when to care about yourself that way and people insist your being a snob…or elitist…ah well…

So I am almost, almost done with my rosey teas, or at least the ones that acutally are rosey. I mean, I still have a few that sprinkle a few rose petals into the mix, but nary a rose flavor is to be found. Those don’t count.

Guys, I am almost out of this tea. Like, I think I have less than a cup of leaf left, which probably means it’s getting blended with other things in a cold steep. Sad! I have quite a list of “standard panel” teas that are no longer in my possession, and it will be a while before I can restock; this one will soon be joining their ranks. I love the flavor blend in this, and that it always seems to wake me up even though it’s a black/green blend.

Preparation

Can we have a real winter please? I like the snow, and I’m getting tired of the endless cold rain we’ve been having instead. Oh well, at least I have delicious tea to perk me up since this dreary morning didn’t help at all.

This is a sample I never want to end! It definitely goes on my list of standard panel, must have teas. I’ve written so much about this tea already that I don’t really have anything left to say except that I love this floral Earl Grey and it’s definitely my favorite of it’s type.

Preparation

There was something about that last tea that just made me feel ill… sometimes that can happen with a particular type of black tea (though I don’t know exactly which one). Hopefully it’s not a type that’s common to all DavidsTea black bases! I decided to go with this tea to fill my non-traditional Earl Grey craving and hopefully chase away lingering yuckiness. It’s been quite a while since I’ve had it, but I still totally love it. I have a bit left, but it’s definitely a reorder when I get through that.

Preparation

After my cup of Rosy Earl Grey yesterday, I took the spent leaves and dropped them into my cold steeping cup along with enough new leaf to make up the balance of the 2 tbsp I put in usually. The last time I had Rosy I “cool steeped” the already steeped leaves and got a pretty tasty tea in only an hour. With an overnight steep, the flavors really came out. The jasmine green tea in this really comes to the forefront, but the bergamot will not be left behind; what you end up with is really more of a Jasmine Earl Grey than a rose one, but that’s just fine with me. I was surprised that after a night steeping the liquor wasn’t oranger, like it usually is with black teas. This one looked more like a cold steeped green than anything else. There wasn’t a distinct black tea flavor, but the Earl Grey flavor was definitely there. I really enjoyed this cold steep, and using the spent leaves saved me an extra cup of tea!

Preparation

Today was a Rosy Earl Grey kind of morning. The heat this past weekend made me finally break down and buy a window air conditioner for my tiny house, but even with that it was way to hot to think about tea. I still need to get a pitcher or something for home so I can cold steep tea occasionally. But now I’m back in the hyper-airconditioning of work, so hot tea is back on the table.

I’m definitely in love with this tea. After having my lovely Lavender Earl Grey taken away (since Tea District’s current blend is no longer the same), this one has stepped up into the floral Earl Grey spot. I just love Earl Grey mixed with Jasmine, and the rose is an added bonus.

Preparation

Ah, rose Earl Greys. Why have you eluded me thus far? I have yet to try one that was what I wanted it to be, but then, I haven’t yet tried this one. It’s been on my list for a while, what with all the Steepster love, and now thanks to JacquelineM I finally get to try it!

The dry leaves smell amazing, but I’ve learned to be skeptical of that coming through in the taste. But the brewed tea smells great too: way more jasminey than the dry leaf, but with a certain depth from the rose that is lurking in the background.

Fortunately, this tea has not disappointed! This is one of those teas, like some of the French ones I have, that each of the flavors plays out individually at different parts of the sip, but then they all come together at the end. The florals are the first things I taste, first sweet, lovely jasmine, then rich, thick rose. The bergamot, the Earl Grey, seems to hang out at the end of the sip, but then on some sips it underlies everything else. All the flavors just work so well together, intermingling, playing off each other. They meld together more as it cools into one great floral bergamotty flavor. This tea is just as amazing as I had hoped!

What was missing from all those other rose EGs was the jasmine, obviously. My favorite lavender Earl Grey also has jasmine in the mix, and I think that it goes a long way toward making the other florals work so well with the bergamot. Thanks again, JacquelineM!

ETA: After reading one of JacquelineM’s previous tasting notes in which she let it “cold steep” in lukewarm water during an office meeting, I filled my cup back up with cool water and let it sit for an hour until lunch. Not exactly “iced” tea, but cool from the air conditioning tea nontheless. The jasmine green was the predominant note in the cup (both the sweet jasmine and the grassy, vegetal green), but the rose and bergamot were definitely present. It was really tasty, and something I’ll definitely try again!

I have not had this one in a while. It combines so many of my favorite scents into one lovely tea. There is rose, Early Grey, and jasmine, and I think the tea base is a black tea. I do try to remember to brew at a slightly lower temp due to the jasmine. I am guessing it is probably best for an afternoon tea, but this sounded good now.

I did have a sample of this come in my foodzie box from LiberTEAS. Surprisingly, it was the only sample from the box of a tea I have tried, and I feel like I have been around the block a few times when it comes to ordering tea. It really is a fabulous tea.

Preparation

Two separate incidents involving my 13yoDD. One has a sticky floor and rug (I will admit to contributing to this one, but who moves away from the plate with the syrup container still inverted?), and the other has hot pink lip gloss all over a load of laundry. UGH!

After floating all morning in my love that is Keemun Mao Feng, I had to find something that was just as wonderful, but in a different way. I do agree that this one is blended so perfectly. It is sweet and floral, and such a comforting and relaxing tea. The jasmine, rose, green tea, and Earl Grey all have their place in this blend. Wonderful.

Preparation

Yes….Happiness and relaxation in a cup. This truly is a restorative to me, and will be close to my heart like my Rose Congou. Luckily, Teas Etc. finally returned my email with good news….it is back in stock!

There is a perfect balance of floral and bergamot notes along with green and black tea base. I did slightly sweeten mine, but truly a wonderful tea! Thank you JacquelineM for sending me a generous sample! I am noticing that our tastes seem to run very similar!